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USER
MANUAL
Version 1.0
PREFIX:
Step 1: Print this manual, and keep it next to the computer.
Step 2: Remember to check once a month (or more often) for an updated version.
This document is a work in progress and is very likely to change and evolve as questions
roll in, we add or change functionality, or just get better at writing documentation!
This document will be updated regularly and should be checked from time to time.
At all points in time, the freshest, more current copy will be located at the following
address:
TalkSpot Gold Documentation:
http://www.talkspot.com/uploads/8125/TalkSpotGoldSubscription.pdf
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Table of Contents
Domain Name Notes and Setup
Domain Name Limitations
“All the good ones have been taken!”
Some tips for selecting a domain name
Setting up your domain name:
Page 4 - 5
Email Account Notes and Setup
Getting and setting up your own email
Email Administration
Accessing your email
Setting up email in your local email program
How do I troubleshoot TalkSpot?
How do I troubleshoot my Internet Service Provider?
How do I troubleshoot my email configuration?
How do I notify TalkSpot of a problem?
Page 6 – 23
Frequently Asked Questions
Page 24-32
What is a domain name?
Why would I want a domain name?
What do I do if I already own my own domain name? Can I use it and will I be
charged?
Can I have more than one domain name pointed at a single site?
Can I cancel my upgraded account status?
Will more account types be offered in the future?
When will I be billed?
What if I get a new credit card?
What happens if my account expires, through credit card expiration, cancellation,
or other unforeseen issues on my end?
What if I want to take my domain name elsewhere?
What if I want more than 100 email addresses?
How long is my domain name mine?
What about price increases?
What about new features?
How do I convert my subscription to annual from monthly billing?
My Email is slow. Why?
My email used to work, but stopped. Why?
What is TalkSpot email?
What if I want more than 100 email addresses?
I can get to the Web Interface page, but I can't login. Why is this?
I can receive mail, but I cannot send. Why?
How do I create an Auto reply for email?
Can I add a default signature to my outgoing domain email address?
Some domains do not receive my email. Why?
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Domain Name Notes and Setup
Most websites have a domain name (example: www.Google.com). Once a
domain name has been taken and is in use by another site, it is no longer available
for others. At this point in time, there are millions of domain names already in
use. This presents a challenge, in that it get’s more and more difficult to find an
applicable domain name that is still memorable.
Domain Name Limitations
Your domain name may include:
• Letters
• Numbers
• Hyphens (must be in the middle, cannot begin or end your domain name)
You domain may not include:
• Spaces
• Special characters, such as ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) ?
• More than 63 characters total (some places do allow a few more than this
“All the good ones have been taken!”
This isn’t completely true. There are millions of domains still left untapped, but it
takes some searching around to find. We at TalkSpot encourage you to take the
time to find the “right match” for your website. Once the domain is selected and
purchased, it cannot be undone (easily).
Some tips for selecting a domain name:
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The shorter the name, the better.
o It is easier it is for people to remember.
Generally speaking, the name should have something to do with the
contents of the website.
o A website for a boat could have a domain name like
“www.RobertsTacoStand.com”, but probably wouldn’t want to.
.com is likely to be the most common “top-level domain” and preferred of
the choices in the top-level domain list.
o The other top-level domains will likely have a wider selection of
words that can be applied to it, but it is less common.
o For example, “www.RobertsTacoStand.com” might be taken, but
“www.RobertsTacoStand.net” might still be available. This is
purely personal taste.
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Setting up your domain name:
BE AWARE: Once a domain name has been selected for your site, it becomes
permanent and cannot be changed (easily) and without an additional charge.
There is no rush to set up your domain name. However, the following method
can be used to search for and connect one to your website. You can also use the
following method to simply search and cancel, until you have found something
that suits your needs.
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Log into your website as the site administrator.
Wave your mouse over the “Tool Kit” to expose the menu.
Select “Search for a Domain Name”
Choose .com, .net, .org, etc. from the dropdown list.
Then, type in whatever you would like!
If the domain name is NOT found, you will be offered a list of similar names,
which you can click and add. Or, you can search again!
If you click a name, you will be asked if you want this domain name. At that
point, if you press the “Submit” button, it will become permanent.
If the domain IS found, then you will be asked if you want this domain name.
At that point, if you press the “Submit” button, it will become permanent.
Note: Your domain name will be automatically attached within 24 hours. Most
likely, it will be next to immediate, however, it CAN take as long as 24 hours to
go into effect.
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Email Account Notes and Setup
Getting and setting up your own email
After you have established your own domain name, it is possible to set up email
that uses your new domain name as part of your email address.
This is a very power feature, and gives you and your website a very professional
image. For instance, let’s say that you have just set up your site to be:
www.JohnDoesWebsite.com You can now have the email address:
[email protected] or even [email protected]
You can even setup email addresses for up to 100 friends, relatives or employees.
For instance, you can easily setup:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Please note: Until you have setup your domain name, and verified that you can
successfully access your website via the domain name that you created, you will
not be able to set up email accounts.
For the examples that follow, let’s assume that you domain name is:
www.yourdomainname.com
Before you do anything, try the following experiment.
Open your browser, and enter your domain name, as follows, replacing the prefix
(www) with the word mail.
http://mail.yourdomainname.com
If this doesn’t work, and it is more than 24 hours since you set up your domain
name, then you need to let us know at Talkspot. Something isn’t right. Send us an
email at: [email protected] and wait for a response.
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If the above worked, you should see the following screen:
If you see anything other than this – you need to write us (see above).
If you see the above, ALL IS WELL, AND YOU WILL SOON HAVE YOUR
EMAIL WORKING!!!!
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Email Administration
The screen you see if the sign-in to the administration website for your email.
What this means is that it is from this website that you grant people email
(including yourself) or take it away. This is not how you check email. It is how
you create email accounts (email addresses).
To say that differently, if you want to set up a new email address, such one for
yourself, and your employees, friends or relatives, this is where you need to go.
You only need to do this once. After you set up an email account, it is set up
forever, and you never have to come back here. Simple? We’ll see…
Try signing in.
Your userid for sign in is: [email protected] (replace the middle
part with your domain name)
Your password is: admin
Click OK, and you will now see the following:
Not very exciting? Just wait.
Click the + sign to the left of the word “Domains”, and then click the + sign again
when you see your domain name, and you will see the list below.
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Let’s click the + sign next to the word “Accounts” to see what is under it.
It shows only one email address, because that’s all that exists now. The system set
up one default email address; [email protected] It’s a real email
address, and later in this tutorial we’ll show you how to access email, but for now,
our only focus is on learning to add and delete email accounts.
Click on the word ‘Add’ – let’s set up a personal email account for you.
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There are only two boxes on this page you need to worry about:
1. The email address you are setting up
2. The password you want to give it
There are some other things on this page, and they do work – but, unless you
know what you are doing, we suggest you leave them alone.
So, let’s assume your name is John Doe, and you want to be
[email protected] – just type the word JohnDoe into the top box
and shift your attention to the second box.
The second box is asking for a password. This will be the password that you, or
your employees, friends, relatives, etc. use when they want to check their email.
You can do what you want, but here’s what we suggest at Talkspot:
Set everyone up with the same password, for instance, just make the password:
‘password’. Then, let them know how to change their password, and they can
change it to anything they want. Instructions on doing that are a little farther in
this document. By doing it this way, and encouraging everyone to change their
password, you won’t know their passwords, and privacy concerns will have been
addressed.
Now, you can click “Save” and you will just have created an email address.
Create one for yourself, and perhaps a couple of other people, and then you are
done!
…Which brings us to how you accessing your new email account(s).
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Accessing your email
Before you, or anyone else can access their email, you need to set up their
accounts. Please read the prior section, and set up one or more email accounts,
before you read this section.
How do you check your email currently? Hotmail? Outlook? Yahoo Mail? Some
other way? There are generally two different ways to access email. One is via a
browser. The other is via an email program, such as Outlook or Outlook express.
Talkspot supports both, although this manual is really limited to discussing how
to use the browser to check and send mail. If you want to configure your email
program to work with Talkspot, it almost certainly can be done, and all the
information you need is at the end of this chapter. That said .. beyond what is
here, you are on your own to figure it out. We do not have the resources to
support all possible email programs.
Let’s look at how to sign into your email account. And, by this I mean “yours”.
There are as many different email accounts as you have different email addresses.
Generally you can only sign onto your own email. Other people, who you created
accounts for sign in to THEIR email account.
The sign in page to retrieve or send email is the same for everybody.
It is: http://mail.yourdomainname.com:8383
Try replacing “yourdomainname” in the above with your domain name, and type
it into a browser. You should see this:
Into this screen you type your email address, and your password.
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These were established in the prior chapter. If you don’t remember what they
were, you can look back at the prior chapter. Your email address should be
something like: [email protected] And, if you followed my
advice setting up the email accounts, your password is probably ‘password’.
Note: If you signed in correctly, here’s what you’ll see:
If you have been around email for awhile, this page should be very familiar. It is
all you need for reading and answering your email.
For additional information about how to use the email interface, click on the little
help symbol (the question mark) at the far right of the menu bar.
Everyone with an email address is encouraged to change their password
immediately. To do that, click on the menu item “options” in the top menu bar (it
looks like an envelope with some gears).
You will see this page:
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There’s a lot here!!! At Talkspot we want to take care of you!
Click on Change Password, on the left side of the page.
That’s it. You should now be able to receive and send email.
However, if you prefer using your own email program, here is some information
that will help.
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Setting up email in your local email program:
The only 3 pieces of information you need to know are:
1. Your incoming and outgoing mail server is: mail.yourdomain.com , turn
on smtp authentication
2. Your username, or account name is your full email address,
[email protected]
3. Your password (case SenSiTivE)
Disclaimer: TalkSpot does not have the resources to stay on top of the changing
email trends of every email program and device. Listed below is amongst the
more common program, and the method is likely to be similar. For anything
outside Outlook or Outlook express, search online for “NAME OF DEVICE OR
PROGRAM HERE email configuration”.
In Outlook or Outlook Express:
Click tools, accounts, mail tab, then double click your mail account. Click the
servers tab, then under "Outgoing mail server, check "my server requires
authentication".
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In Outlook XP:
Click tools, email accounts, view or change existing email accounts, double click
the account, more settings, outgoing server tab, then check the box for "my server
requires
authentication".
Check your mail program's help files for help with Netscape, or Eudora, but these
are similar.
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IMPORTANT RESTRICTION – PLEASE READ!!!!
Sending mass email:
We do not allow you to use our mail servers to send mass mailings, or
newsletters, other than through your normal Talkspot Administration panel. Do
not attempt to send 100s or 1000s of emails from your webmail client. And, as
always: you are never authorized to send spam from a Talkspot account. Emailing
your own customer list is fine. Emailing potential customers is not. You know the
difference between spam and a newsletter. Use common sense, and DO NOT
spam.
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EMAIL TROUBLESHOOTING
Here's how you can troubleshoot:
•
If your domain name is less than 24 hours old:
o Enter: http://mail.yourwebsitename.com into the browser.
 If you do not see a sign in page, then your website’s domain name
has not been setup.
 It’s probable that the Internet is still configuring your email. The
solution may be to simply wait a day. Give it more time.
o If it has been more than 24 hours since purchasing your name, then let us
know (see “Notifying Talkspot of a Problem”, below)
•
If your domain name is over 24 hours old:
There are three probable places where your email may be failing. Before contacting
Talkspot, it is important to determine which of these three entities has the problem.
1. Talkspot. Our servers may be down temporarily.
2. Your Internet Service Provider. It is possible that your ISP has done something
which is messing up your email. Frequently, the internet providers take steps to
fight spammers, and this often leads to lost email, or the ability to send/receive
emails.
3. Your email configuration. If your email has worked for months, and is suddenly
down, then it is probably not your local email configuration. But, if this is your
first time to set up your local email program (like Outlook or Thunderbird) then
there’s a good chance that if it isn’t working, you need to study the help files for
your email program.
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HOW TO KNOW IF TALKSPOT’S SERVER IS DOWN
Try the following. In this example, replace where it says “yoursitename” with your
website’s domain name. For instance, if your website is: www.JoesPlumbing.com, then
you would replace http://www.yoursitename.com with http://www.JoesPlumbing.com
1. Open a browser window (Firefox or Explorer)
2. Type the following into the URL: http://mail.yoursitename.com
3. Do you see a screen that looks like this:
4. If so, the odds are heavy that this is not a talkspot issue. Just to be certain though,
let’s try signing into your email
5. Type the following into your browser address:
http://www.yoursitename.com:8383
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6. You should see the following sign in:
7. Try signing in using your email address and password.
8. If you get signed in, and see your email, that is a very good sign.
9. Now, try reading an email. Just see if you can.
10. You could? Great!
11. Now, let’s give it a real test. Try sending yourself an email using the web
interface. To do so, click the button that says “compose” and send an email to
your own email address. Just say “hello” that’s all you need.
12. Click on the “Check mail” icon:
13. You might need to wait a couple minutes, but you should see the email. (If there
is a large delay, and you would like to see this faster, see below in the FAQ).
14. If that all works, there is some good news, and some bad news. Talkspot is
working fine, but you now need to read the sections on how to decide if it is your
ISP or your local email configuration that has the problem.
15. If any of the above failed, wait 30 minutes, then try again.
16. If after a second attempt, the results are still negative, then let us know (see
“Notifying Talkspot of a Problem”, below)
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HOW TO TELL IF IT’S MY ISP
You are able to send and receive emails if you use the web interface, exclusively, but
when trying to send via an email program like Outlook, the emails frequently or never
arrive.
Because of the enormous variety of email programs, we can’t give specific instructions.
However, this is likely due to “Port 25”. Port 25 is what most email is sent on. Many
Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) have blocked this port to cut down on SPAM. Here is
a list of some of the bigger companies that have been known to block “Port 25”.
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AT&T (can be unblocked at the request)
MindSpring
BellSouth
MSN
CableOne
NetZero
Charter
People PC
Comcast ATTBI
Sprynet
Cox
Sympatico.ca
EarthLink
Verio
Flashnet
Verizon
MediaOne
We recommend setting the following setting to avoid this issue:
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Incoming server (POP3): 110
Outgoing server (SMTP): 587
To learn how to do this, you can search on a search engine like Google, the following:
•
Set SMTP Port to 587
You can also try the following links for assistance (Remember, TalkSpot uses POP email,
not IMAP):
• http://kb.wisc.edu/helpdesk/page.php?id=2786
• http://www.inno-tech.com/support/user-port587.html
• http://webmail.tm.net.my/info/port587.html
• http://www.maximumasp.com/support/kb/article.aspx?article=1033
TROUBLESHOOTING YOUR EMAIL CONFIGURATION
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Unfortunately, there are a myriad of email programs and hand held devices which can be
used for email. TalkSpot does not have the resources to offer troubleshooting and/or
specific instructions for each of them. Even with the most popular programs and devices,
the frequent updates and new programs and models would render any information herein
outdated within a short time.
However, we can assist somewhat by recommending search terms and offer key links to
material online that we feel will assist you at this time.
Depending on the program or handheld device You will need some of this information
available, and likely all of it. Make sure you know the following, prior to diagnosing the
issue.
The important pieces of information you’ll need are as follows:
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Your Name (or the name of the email account): Your Name (or
YourDomainName.com)
Your Domain Name: YourDomainName.com
Your Email Address: YourName@ YourDomainName.com
Your Password: ********
Incoming Mail Server: (POP3): mail. YourDomainName.com
Outgoing Mail Server: (SMTP): mail. YourDomainName.com
Your outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication: Activated
Incoming Server (POP3) Port Numbers: 110
Outgoing Server (SMTP) Port Numbers: 587
o (25 will likely work, as well, but may experience blocks. See section
called “HOW TO TELL IF IT’S MY ISP“ from above.)
General Email Information, related to the system TalkSpot uses
TalkSpot uses MaximumASP as our email server, and hMailServer version 4.4 for the
actual program. The following 3 links go to the documentation related to the supporting
system for TalkSpot’s email:
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http://www.maximumasp.com/support/kb/default.aspx?category=9
http://www.maximumasp.com/support/kb/default.aspx?category=71
http://www.hmailserver.com/documentation/v4.4/?page=overview
More specific information to popular programs and hand held devices:
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Blackberry Support:
o http://www.blackberry.com
o http://na.blackberry.com/eng/
o http://na.blackberry.com/eng/support/
•
iPhone Support:
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o http://www.apple.com
o http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/mail/
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Palm Support:
o http://www.palm.com
o http://forums.palm.com/palm/
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Outlook and Outlook Express Support:
o http://www.microsoft.com
o http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ie6/using/howto/oe/setup.mspx
o http://www.plus.net/support/email/setup/outlook.shtml
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More Popular Email Programs
o http://www.plus.net/support/email/setup/outlook.shtml
You may also try a variety of search terms.
With Google.com, Bing.com, Yahoo.com and/or your favorite search engine, you may
try the following terms, one at a time, to learn more about the topic, or together in groups,
to learn more specific information.
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Configure Outlook Email
Configure iPhone pop3 Email Account
Setup pop email on blackberry
POP3
SMTP
Your Email Program Name or Handheld Device
Email
hMailServer
MaximumASP
TalkSpot
Configure
Troubleshoot
Problem
Setup
NOTIFYING TALKSPOT OF A PROBLEM
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Post a message on our support board so that we may help you sort out the issue. Be as
specific as you can in describing the problem. You will also need to indicate that you’ve
tried all the tests listed above, otherwise, we will just tell you to try the tests above. Only
after all previous tests fail will we look into it further.
Be sure to indicate your website address, so we can test your site. Otherwise, we will not
know which site this issue pertains to. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR PASSWORD.
Our support forums are located, here:
http://www.talkspot.com/aspx/m/467257
Direct link to post email related questions and topics:
http://www.talkspot.com/aspx/m/467257/bbs/Forum.14462.229979
Frequently Asked Questions
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What is a domain name?
How does the post office find your house, to deliver you mail? They can
do it because you have an address. The internet works the same way.
Every website has a unique address. Whereas your home's address is
something like: 111 Main Street, addresses on the web are much less
interesting. An internet address consists of four numbers, seperated by
periods, such as: 111.222.333.444 Every website on the web has an
address like this.
Actually, to be completely accurate, internet addresses point at the server,
on which a website resides. There are times, and Talkspot is one of them,
when multiple websites reside on the same server. Thing of this particular
address as pointing at an apartment building.
Most of us find numbers hard to remember, so the internet does something
very convenient. There are servers, scattered around the internet, that
associate names with addresses. For instance, our talkspot website has the
name (called a domain name) of www.talkspot.com, and the server it is on
has the address 206.196.19.86
A domain name is the last two parts of a website address. For instance, in
www.talkspot.com, the domain name is: talkspot.com.
A website address is different from an IP address (which is the four
numbers we discussed previously). When someone refers to a website
address, the are usually referring to the full name used to access a website
via the browser, such as www.talkspot.com.
A URL (Universal Resource Locator) is the full name used to access
something on the web, such as a webpage, a website, a picture, a song, etc.
For instance www.talkspot.com/pictures/picture1.jpg
Also, check out:
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/dns1.htm
Why would I want a domain name?
Build Trust with Customers
When visitors arrive at your site, they want to know that your website is
legitimate and that it is there to stay. With your own domain name you
reveal that you are in it for the long haul.
Help Maximize Your Promotion Efforts
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When you secure your own domain name, you have complete freedom in
your promotions. Many search engines, directories and other promotional
sites will frown at "free" hosted sites with another site's address and
marketing materials. When you use a free web page hosting service, your
site pages are placed on a website along with many other types of
businesses. The search engines will not recognize your site as being a
unique entity. They might even lump your site into categories with other
sites that are using the free service. This can hurt your promotional efforts
tremendously, and you end up wasting time and money. You'll actually
save money in the long run with your own domain name.
By securing a domain name and taking advantage of TalkSpot's tools, you
can promote your site to the fullest.
What do I do if I already own my own domain name? Can I use it and will I
be charged?
Yes you can and no you won’t!
You can use an existing name and swap it to your TalkSpot system.
However, this will involve a manual process. Aside from the initial fee
for establishing your upgraded membership, you will not incur any
additional charges for a single instance of a domain name swap, per site.
To make the change, you will need to set your DNS servers to:
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ns1.maximumasp.com
ns2.maximumasp.com
You may need to contact the company that you originally purchased
the domain name from to learn how to do this. The process is different
for each company.
Once you have made the change on your end, send an email to
[email protected] with the domain name, and within 24 to 48 hours,
your change will have been made. Make sure to include the name of
your existing TalkSpot site.
For more information check out:
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http://rshweb.com/dns.html
http://www.mydiscountdomains.com/dns.htm
Can I have more than one domain name pointed at a single site?
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Yes! To do so, email [email protected]
Can I cancel my upgraded account status?
For the most part, yes! At any point in time, you can cancel your
membership. At that point, you will maintain the same account status
until the end of the existing billing cycle. Once this occurs, your website
will return to its “Free” status, and you will not be billed again. We do
not offer refunds or partial returns for the time between cancelling
and the end of the previously paid period of time.
All this said, we recommend you start with a month-to-month subscription
model and when you’re certain that you will be with TalkSpot.com for a
long time, then we recommend moving to the annual model.
Will more account types be offered in the future?
Maybe?
TalkSpot.com really listens to our audience, and this relationship has
brought us to this point. As time moves forward, TalkSpot will change
and evolve for the better. We take comments and recommendations to
heart and if a strong set of tools begins to materialize from this
relationship, that takes a lot of work, yes, it’s completely possible that we
will introduce new packages in the future! At the moment, there are no
concrete plans, but anything is possible!
When will I be billed?
You will be billed 7 days prior to the end of your billing cycle, in all cases.
Monthly subscriber example:
If you signed up on February 8th, 2007, you will be billed on the first of
the month (March 1st, 2007, etc.), for each successive month, until you
cancel or switch to an annual account status.
Annual subscriber example:
If you signed up on February 8th, 2007, you will be billed on the first of
the February for each successive year, until you cancel or switch to a
monthly account status.
IMPORTANT NOTE: TalkSpot purchases your domain for a year at a
time. If you know that you are up for credit card renewal -- CHECK
YOUR CARD NUMBER AND EXPIRATION DATE -- if you don't
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your account could lapse, and you will lose your domain name. There is
nothing we can do about this. We cannot fix this.
What if I get a new credit card?
Once you are an upgraded member, you will see “Account Status and
Billing” in your toolkit. Select this option, change your credit card
information and submit it.
That’s it!
IMPORTANT NOTE: We suggest you do it immediately SO YOUR
ACCOUNT DOES NOT EXPIRE.
What happens if my account expires, through credit card expiration,
cancellation, or other unforeseen issues on my end?
Talkspot has control over most elements of a TalkSpot website. We save
everything in a database and in a case where an account lapses or is
cancelled, we will save that information for a year. Re-subscribing will
unlock all the tools and return things to normal.
HOWEVER, we cannot control your email accounts or domain name.
These are controlled by a third party. If you cancel or let your account
lapse, you run a VERY good risk that you will lose your domain name
forever, and all email addresses, the email account and any email saved
within it. That said, take precautionary measures to ensure that your
account never lapses, or that you’re prepared for the results of a
cancellation.
What if I want to take my domain name elsewhere?
Email us at [email protected] and we will transfer your domain name
to anywhere you’d like for a one time transfer fee of $35.00.
What if I want more than 100 email addresses?
At present, the limit is 100. If there becomes a pressing need for more
than 100 email addresses, email us at [email protected] and something
can likely be worked out.
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How long is my domain name mine?
Your domain name is yours as long as you are an upgraded account
holder. If your account lapses (see above), there is a good possibility that
you will lose your domain name. This is beyond TalkSpot’s control.
If you would like to transfer your domain name to another website or
service, there is a one-time $35.00 transfer fee.
What about price increases?
At this time, we have no plans for price increases. However, in time we
may offer new additional services that will require another upgrade fee in
order to gain access to these tools and features.
What about new features?
TalkSpot takes great pride in listening to its audience. As comments,
recommendations and requests come in, we weigh them, prioritize them,
put our heads down and make them!
As time moves forward, you can assume that the tools will only get better,
more refined and gain additional power. We don’t know what these tools
and features will be at this time, but feel free to email us at
[email protected] to request features or just to see what we might have
in the hopper!
How do I convert my subscription to annual from monthly billing?
Currently, there is no way for you to do this yourself. Email us at:
[email protected] and we will do it for you. Just include your website
domain name in your email to us, and state that you would like to make
the change. We'll take it from there.
Note: At this point, you will be charged the annual rate.
My Email doesn’t arrive immediately. There are times where it takes a very
long time and is a big delay. What can I do?
Both Talkspot, and your ISP, are taking measures to block spam.
Currently, well over half of all internet traffic is spam.
The odds are that both Talkspot, and your ISP, take the same approach to
blocking spam. There are companies which we subscribe to, which look at
each piece of email, and assign it a rating, based on the probability that it
is spam. This process can take time, and sometimes the agencies that do
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this work get backed up.
One simple step to solve this problem is to turn off the option on
TalkSpot's mail server that does this. To do this, go to your email
administration panel: http://mail.yoursitename.com.
You'll need the email address: [email protected]
We do not know your password. Hopefully you remember it, if not, let us
know, by using the procedure under "How to notify Talkspot", below.
On the left side of the screen is the word “Domains”, with a plus [+] sign
to the left. Click the plus sign to see the domains contained within.
Click the domain name for your site, and you will see an “Advanced
Option called greylisting. It should be set to Active. You want to deselect it, then press the SAVE button at the bottom of the screen. This will
turn off your greylisting for your email.
Now, this only turns off the spam checking at Talkspot. If you are still
having problems with slow delivery, then the odds are heavy that the
problem is at your internet provider. We cannot control them. Contact
their technical support. If you want to verify it is them, then try checking
your email via our web based email program:
http://www.yoursite.com:8383.
If you observe that emails are there, that are not arriving in the email
program on your computer, then you now understand why.
My email used to work through my email program or handheld device, and
suddenly stopped working, but I’ve changed nothing. What’s happening?
It is almost positively your Internet Service Provider, and what we call the
"Port 25” issue. If your email was working, and you are able to do email
by using TalkSpot's web interface, then read the section called, “HOW TO
TELL IF IT’S MY ISP”, above.
If your email has never worked, then see the “TROUBLESHOOTING”
section, above.
What is TalkSpot email?
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TalkSpot email is included with the upgraded gold membership.
You may have up to 100 customized email addresses.
You can create email lists and groups.
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You can add signatures.
You can have instant auto replies.
TalkSpot’s email is hosted by MaximumASP.com.
The program running TalkSpot’s email is hMailServer, version 4.4.
TalkSpot email has a website interface, allowing you to check your email
from anywhere in the world, provided you have an internet connection.
TalkSpot’s email can be configured with most major email programs and
handheld devices.
What if I want more than 100 email addresses?
At present, the limit is 100. If there becomes a pressing need for more
than 100 email addresses, email us at [email protected] and something
can likely be worked out.
I can get to the Web Interface page, but I can't login. Why is this?
Make sure you’re using the correct email address for logging in. It’s not
uncommon for people to confuse their email addresses. Next make sure
that you are using the correct password.
I can't get to the Web Interface page, what could be wrong?
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First make sure you are putting the port 8383 at the end of the URL (i.e.
mail.YourDomain.com:8383).
If it has been less than 24 hours, it’s possible your domain name has not
been fully set up and you may need to simply wait a little longer.
If you do try the 8383 and it’s been more than 24 hours and still are not
able to get to the Web Interface page you may be behind a firewall that
does not allow traffic over that port. You would then need to contact your
ISP. You may also contact TalkSpot using the method outlined above in
the section called “NOTIFYING TALKSPOT OF A PROBLEM“
I can receive mail, but I cannot send. This has happened recently, with no
settings changed.
That is usually a sign of the ISP blocking SMTP. They do this without
warning, to try and control spam. Please try the following:
Go to a command prompt, and run the following command:
telnet mail.yourdomain.com 25
The screen should go black, with a cursor at the top left. Type HELO and
hit enter, you should receive a HELO back from the server. Type quit and
hit enter to exit the telnet.
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If you cannot get the helo response, you cannot connect to SMTP, and
cannot send mail. This means that either the ISP is blocking SMTP, or we
are at the server due to past abuse. To check if we are blocking, go to
www.whatismyip.com , and let us know the IP address you are using. We
will check the block list.
In the case of an ISP block, you will most likely need to change the
outgoing server to one of the ISP's. The address will usually be something
like mail.yourisp.com or smtp.yourisp.com (example: for insightbb.com,
it would be smtp.insightbb.com) Try either of those, but contact the ISP
for a definitive address.
How do I create an Auto reply for email?
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Here are the steps on how to setup auto reply.
Login to the webinterface for your mail (http://mail.YourDomain.com for
example) with the login information for the email address you want to set
the auto-reply for.
In the left hand tree-menu, expand your account name.
Select the Auto-reply option.
In the right hand pane you will see your auto-reply options. Select the
Active Checkbox , then fill your Subject and text line with the appropriate
information.
If you only want the autoreply to be active for a set amount of time, you
can also select to auto-expire the message and enter both date and time
information for the auto-reply to be inactivated.
Then click save.
Can I add a default signature to my outgoing domain email address?
Yes. You can set up a signature per user. Log in to the web based
interface, and select Change My Signature from the drop down box.
Please keep in mind this attaches the signature to emails sent from the web
interface, but not from email clients such as Outlook or Outlook
Express. Refer to your email client's help files for specific instructions on
using signatures.
I am having difficulty sending emails from our website. I can send email to
yahoo, hotmail, and most other domains, but some domains do not receive
the email, why?
Some email servers filter incoming mail. They do this in various ways,
including blocking the mail if it was sent to a BCC, or, querying the
sending server, to make sure the sending account exists. If the
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administrator of the email server chooses to do this, your email will be
filtered out.
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